GENOME WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDY IN A GLOBAL COLLECTION OF LENTIL (LENS CULINARIS)

Lentil (Lens culinaris Medik.) is the third most cultivated cool-season grain legume worldwide and a key protein crop for sustainable agriculture. Leveraging genome-wide variation data available from the INCREASE project Single Seed Descent (SSD) lines’ collections, we carried out comprehensive analysis of lentil genetic structure. In addition, we performed multi-year phenotypic evaluation to identify superior accessions and perform genome wide association (GWA) studies for several economically important traits. Discriminant analysis of principal components (DAPC) revealed patterns of genetic diversity reflecting geography and seed morphological features. Genomic regions underlying major economic traits were investigated, including plant and first-node height, response to the parasitic weed Orobanche crenata, and content of minerals and trigonelline, a potentially bioactive seed metabolite. Based on the analysis of linkage disequilibrium decay and information available in scientific literature, candidate genes were identified for some of the traits under study, including a palmitoyl transferase for first-node height, and a cysteine proteinase inhibitor for resistance to O. crenata. Overall, these findings provide a basis to enhance germplasm valorisation in lentil genetics and breeding.